Impossible Foods Appoints Vanessa Wittman to Board of Directors

Seasoned, former public-company CFO becomes seventh board member
and chair of audit committee

Impossible Foods will launch Impossible™ Burger this month in
Singapore and later this year in retail outlets in the United States

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Impossible Foods announced today that Vanessa Wittman has joined the
food tech startup’s board of directors and become the chair of its audit
committee.

The tech industry veteran has more than 30 years of experience in
finance and technology and has served as a senior executive at both
startups and major multinationals. Wittman most recently served as Chief
Financial Officer at Oath, a Verizon subsidiary and the parent company
of Yahoo, AOL, HuffPost, and other brands. Prior to Oath, Wittman was
CFO at Dropbox; Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Google; and Marsh &
McLennan Companies.

Wittman currently serves on the board of directors of Ulta Beauty; she
previously served on the boards of Sirius XM Holdings and InfoSpace.
Wittman is an independent member of the FIFA Finance Committee and
serves on the board of advisors for the University of North Carolina
Kenan-Flagler Business School and the executive board of the Educational
Foundation’s Rams Club.

“I’m thrilled to join Impossible Foods, which sets the gold standard for
R&D companies thanks to its laser focus on basic science. It’s also a
leader for diversity and gender equity among Silicon Valley tech
startups,” Wittman said. “I look forward to helping the company fulfill
its ambitious mission to eliminate the need for animals from the food
chain.”

“Vanessa has a stellar reputation as one of the most highly-regarded
business leaders in the tech world,” said Brown, Professor Emeritus of
Biochemistry at Stanford University and a former Howard Hughes Medical
Institute investigator. “Her analytical mind, financial rigor, and
commitment to our mission significantly strengthen our board and will
accelerate Impossible Foods’ growth and maturation as a business.”

Delicious, nutritious, ubiquitous

Wittman’s appointment to the board comes at a critical moment in
Impossible Foods’ growth trajectory. Impossible Burger is now served at
more than 5,000 restaurants across the United States, Hong Kong and
Macau. Next month, the company will debut its flagship product in
Singapore, and later this year it will launch in retail outlets in the
United States.

Based in Redwood City, Calif., Impossible Foods uses modern science and
technology to create wholesome and nutritious food, help restore natural
ecosystems, and feed a growing population sustainably. The company makes
meat from plants – with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat
from animals.

To satisfy the global demand for meat at a fraction of the environmental
impact, Impossible Foods developed a far more sustainable, scalable, and
affordable way to make meat, without the catastrophic
environmental impact of livestock.

Shortly after its founding in 2011, Impossible Foods’ scientists
discovered that one molecule — “heme”
— is uniquely responsible for the explosion of flavors that results when
meat is cooked. Impossible Foods’ scientists genetically
engineer and ferment yeast to produce a heme protein naturally found
in plants, called soy leghemoglobin.

The heme in Impossible Burger is identical
to the essential heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of
thousands of years in meat — and while the Impossible Burger delivers
all the craveable depth of beef, it uses far fewer resources because
it’s made from plants, not animals.

About Impossible Foods:

Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Impossible Foods makes delicious,
nutritious meat and dairy products from plants — with a much smaller
environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held
company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Professor
Emeritus of Biochemistry at Stanford University, and a former Howard
Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Investors include Khosla
Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking
Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital, and Open Philanthropy
Project.